'Just who are the hosts for the Bone-Eating Worms?'
Wei'en covered his nose and mouth, scanning the pedestrians around him.
All hurrying along, all dressed in rags...
Only a rare few were still dressed cleanly and tidily. Even if their clothes were washed-out and patched, it allowed them to maintain a shred of dignity.
"What's wrong, Wei'en?" Lisi asked, seeing his expression.
"Nothing. I've only been here a few times before, always in a rush. I just wanted to take a better look."
"You haven't been in the Caster City State for long, have you?"
"Not even half a year."
Wei'en scanned the area but found no one obviously suspicious and had to give up. "The people here... they don't look like they're of the Oldes Race, do they?"
"Of course not,"
Ariana, who was beside them, immediately refuted it. "The blood of pride flows in the veins of the Oldes Race. We would rather die than stay in a place like this."
"These are all damn members of the Vasquez Race. Look what a mess they've made of this place!"
'The Vasquez Race?'
Wei'en glanced around again and, drawing on his predecessor's memories, confirmed that most of the people here were indeed of the Vasquez Race.
Their most obvious feature was their ears—they were round, like a teddy bear's.
"I read in the Caster Council Newspaper before that there are often reports of riots by the Vasquez Race in the city-states of the eastern kingdom."
Ariana tilted his head back slightly, looking around with disgust.
"That's right. Ever since the kingdom's army of Iron Shield Knights crushed Lowell City, the Vasquez Race from there started wandering everywhere,"
"popping up from time to time, as annoying as flies... We should have slaughtered every last one of them twenty years ago!"
"Quiet," Lisi snapped, glaring at him. "Ariana, your voice is too grating."
"Don't look at me like that, Lisi," Ariana said, disgruntled. "In the Battle of Black River back then, our Holmes Clan lost three people..."
"Are you planning to pin that blood feud on them?"
Lisi saw the increasingly hostile stares from the surrounding Vasquez Race and said grimly, "Ariana, if I hear you say anything like that again,"
"I will personally, in the name of the Logistics and Investigation Department, send you for a review by the Council!"
"Fine, I won't say it..."
Even so, Ariana clearly didn't take the people around him seriously, looking at them as if they were a swarm of ants, his gaze full of indifference and contempt.
Lisi shook her head and said, "Marco, go find the City Guard. Use the Secret Investigation Department's name to request they dispatch a squad of guards over here."
Marco nodded. "I'm on it."
"Everyone else... pick up the pace. Find the clues, complete the mission, and get out of here as soon as possible." Lisi clearly didn't want to waste any more time on this.
At the same time, she silently regretted agreeing to Yegor's suggestion to let Ariana participate.
Then, the group moved quickly through the area, heading for the central part of the Laos District.
Wei'en, following in the middle of the group, realized they were maintaining a tactical formation.
Lisi was at the front, Ariana brought up the rear, while he and Tina were in the middle.
He also noticed that Lisi, who had been so carefree back at the Secret Investigation Department, now wore a grim and serious expression, as if ready for a fight at any moment.
'The slums are dangerous?'
With this suspicion in mind, Wei'en's eyes unconsciously darted around their surroundings.
As the group went deeper, the conditions on the street grew worse.
The sun was scorching hot overhead, but the surroundings seemed strangely dim.
Dilapidated buildings stood in rows, their mottled paint peeling from the walls to reveal a worn-out gray underneath.
There were fewer and fewer pedestrians.
More common were gaunt, sallow-faced people squatting in dark corners, watching them with hollow, numb eyes.
Even some of the children were the same, utterly lifeless.
Amidst the group's silence and a creeping chill, Wei'en unknowingly began to feel a little tense.
This was his first time deep in the slums, and it was his predecessor's first time as well.
After they had gone a little further, Lisi finally stopped. "We're here."
Ariana surveyed the surroundings and asked, confused, "Lisi, this place seems a bit too..."
"Quiet, right?" Lisi glanced at him. "Yes, I believe I told you that over three hundred people have gone missing here."
CRACK.
Ariana nearly ground his teeth to dust. "You'd better not tell me my job is to track all of them!"
"Of course not. These people all vanished in an instant. You just need to find one of them."
"Then let's get started. The smell of this place gives me a bad feeling."
"Smell?"
Lisi paused, observed her surroundings again, and frowned. "You sense it too?"
Ariana's previously composed expression was gone. He said gravely, "It wasn't so obvious before, but now it's getting stronger... like the smell of sewer rats. It's nauseating!"
"Then there's no mistake,"
Lisi raised her hand, pulling her Two-Handed Axe from the void. Her expression turned serious. "Looks like we're in for some trouble on this mission."
Wei'en froze for a second, then quickly drew the flintlock pistol hanging at his waist and scanned his surroundings.
"Lisi... Ma'am, which number Magic Potion do you need? I'll get it ready."
"Number Five!"
Hearing this, Ariana looked at him in surprise. "Don't you know? 'Sewer rats' is a specific term for those bastards from the Eternal Life Association."
Wei'en didn't answer him. Instead, he opened the case in his hands, took out a vial marked "5," and loaded the entire Magic Potion into his flintlock.
He sighed inwardly. 'It's only my first mission. Can't it be a little easier, a little simpler?'